Clearday-TRForce
04-04-2006, 04:08 AM
National Bank Buys Stake in Finansbank for $2.8 Bln (Update1)
April 3 (Bloomberg) -- National Bank of Greece SA, the country's biggest bank, agreed to pay 2.3 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for a stake in Turkish lender Finansbank AS in the Greek lender's biggest-ever investment.
National Bank Chief Executive Officer Takis Arapoglou announced the accord to buy a 46 percent stake in the Turkish lender at a press conference in Athens today. Finansbank, Turkey's sixth-biggest publicly traded bank by assets, picked Athens-based National over a bid from New York-based Citigroup, the world's biggest bank by market value.
Optimism for growth in Turkey, which in October began talks to enter the European Union, already has drawn BNP Paribas SA, France's biggest bank, to invest in the country's $350 billion economy. General Electric Co. bought a $1.8 billion stake in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi in August, until now Turkey's biggest bank acquisition.
Finansbank's net income rose 68 percent last year to 470.2 million liras ($349 million) after it increased loans by a third. The shares have more than tripled in the past year, partly on expectations of a sale. National Bank's offer values Finansbank at $6 billion, compared with a current market value of $5.4 billion. Finansbank also has units in Romania and Russia. The Greek bank said it will offer to buy out minority shareholders.
Romania Expansion
National Bank's Arapoglou said on March 1 last year that using capital to make high-returning acquisitions in countries like Romania and Turkey was a priority and would ensure long- term growth.
Shares in National Bank, the biggest company by value on the Athens Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of 13 billion euros ($15.7 billion), have more than doubled since Arapoglou took the helm in 2004.
Arapoglou, 54, has cut the workforce at the former state- controlled bank by about 10 percent, sold and shut units in western Europe, the U.S. and Canada to focus on eastern European markets, betting that future EU membership will spur loan demand much as it did in Greece.
The bank had net income of 727 million euros last year, double the 2004 figure. About 9 percent of pretax profit came from southeast European countries where National has branches, including in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia.
The acquisition is the bank's biggest since it acquired National Mortgage Bank of Greece SA in 1998. It also sets a record for investment by Greek companies in Turkey, beating the 67 million euros spent by Intralot SA, a lottery operator, in November last year.
Buying Into Turkey
Historically tense relations between Greece and Turkey, fuelled by border disputes and the divided island of Cyprus, have been an obstacle to Greek companies expanding to Turkey until recently. Relations between the two countries have warmed since 1999, when they rushed to each other's aid after earthquakes rocked Istanbul and Athens.
Turkey has appeal for consumer banks because wages are rising and borrowing costs are falling, boosting demand for loans. The country's benchmark interest rate has dropped to 13.5 percent from about twice as high two years ago. Inflation has slowed to 8.2 percent from more than 70 percent in 2002.
Companies have agreed to pay $5.15 billion for banks in Turkey over the last two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BNP Paribas paid $217 million in February last year for a 42 percent stake in Turk Ekonomi Bankasi AS or TEB. Belgium's Fortis in July bought a controlling stake in Turk Dis Ticaret Bankasi AS for about 880 million euros.
Economy Grows
The Turkish economy has grown at an average pace of more than 7 percent in the past four years. Turkish banks had 49.6 billion liras of consumer loans, including credit cards, as of March 17, up more than 70 percent from a year ago, central bank figures show. Housing loans more than quadrupled to 15.4 billion liras.
Still, total bank lending for home purchases amounts to about 3 percent of economic output, compared with 40 percent for the EU, according to Turkey's banking association. Finansbank had 17.9 billion liras of assets at the end of 2005, including 11 billion liras of loans. More than 40 percent of its assets were outside Turkey.
Finansbank's main owner, Husnu Ozyegin's Fiba Holding AS, in November hired Morgan Stanley to manage the stake sale.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Holland in Istanbul at bholland1@bloomberg.net.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=100...v0&refer=europe
I hope cultural and political environment of Greece will watch their economical approach.This should be emphasized since the majority of rapprochements among former enemies began in the economic sector, while political and cultural sectors "obeyed" thereafter...But there are always some chances for begining the new era relations.
regards,
CDTRF
April 3 (Bloomberg) -- National Bank of Greece SA, the country's biggest bank, agreed to pay 2.3 billion euros ($2.8 billion) for a stake in Turkish lender Finansbank AS in the Greek lender's biggest-ever investment.
National Bank Chief Executive Officer Takis Arapoglou announced the accord to buy a 46 percent stake in the Turkish lender at a press conference in Athens today. Finansbank, Turkey's sixth-biggest publicly traded bank by assets, picked Athens-based National over a bid from New York-based Citigroup, the world's biggest bank by market value.
Optimism for growth in Turkey, which in October began talks to enter the European Union, already has drawn BNP Paribas SA, France's biggest bank, to invest in the country's $350 billion economy. General Electric Co. bought a $1.8 billion stake in Turkiye Garanti Bankasi in August, until now Turkey's biggest bank acquisition.
Finansbank's net income rose 68 percent last year to 470.2 million liras ($349 million) after it increased loans by a third. The shares have more than tripled in the past year, partly on expectations of a sale. National Bank's offer values Finansbank at $6 billion, compared with a current market value of $5.4 billion. Finansbank also has units in Romania and Russia. The Greek bank said it will offer to buy out minority shareholders.
Romania Expansion
National Bank's Arapoglou said on March 1 last year that using capital to make high-returning acquisitions in countries like Romania and Turkey was a priority and would ensure long- term growth.
Shares in National Bank, the biggest company by value on the Athens Stock Exchange, with a market capitalization of 13 billion euros ($15.7 billion), have more than doubled since Arapoglou took the helm in 2004.
Arapoglou, 54, has cut the workforce at the former state- controlled bank by about 10 percent, sold and shut units in western Europe, the U.S. and Canada to focus on eastern European markets, betting that future EU membership will spur loan demand much as it did in Greece.
The bank had net income of 727 million euros last year, double the 2004 figure. About 9 percent of pretax profit came from southeast European countries where National has branches, including in Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia and Macedonia.
The acquisition is the bank's biggest since it acquired National Mortgage Bank of Greece SA in 1998. It also sets a record for investment by Greek companies in Turkey, beating the 67 million euros spent by Intralot SA, a lottery operator, in November last year.
Buying Into Turkey
Historically tense relations between Greece and Turkey, fuelled by border disputes and the divided island of Cyprus, have been an obstacle to Greek companies expanding to Turkey until recently. Relations between the two countries have warmed since 1999, when they rushed to each other's aid after earthquakes rocked Istanbul and Athens.
Turkey has appeal for consumer banks because wages are rising and borrowing costs are falling, boosting demand for loans. The country's benchmark interest rate has dropped to 13.5 percent from about twice as high two years ago. Inflation has slowed to 8.2 percent from more than 70 percent in 2002.
Companies have agreed to pay $5.15 billion for banks in Turkey over the last two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. BNP Paribas paid $217 million in February last year for a 42 percent stake in Turk Ekonomi Bankasi AS or TEB. Belgium's Fortis in July bought a controlling stake in Turk Dis Ticaret Bankasi AS for about 880 million euros.
Economy Grows
The Turkish economy has grown at an average pace of more than 7 percent in the past four years. Turkish banks had 49.6 billion liras of consumer loans, including credit cards, as of March 17, up more than 70 percent from a year ago, central bank figures show. Housing loans more than quadrupled to 15.4 billion liras.
Still, total bank lending for home purchases amounts to about 3 percent of economic output, compared with 40 percent for the EU, according to Turkey's banking association. Finansbank had 17.9 billion liras of assets at the end of 2005, including 11 billion liras of loans. More than 40 percent of its assets were outside Turkey.
Finansbank's main owner, Husnu Ozyegin's Fiba Holding AS, in November hired Morgan Stanley to manage the stake sale.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ben Holland in Istanbul at bholland1@bloomberg.net.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=100...v0&refer=europe
I hope cultural and political environment of Greece will watch their economical approach.This should be emphasized since the majority of rapprochements among former enemies began in the economic sector, while political and cultural sectors "obeyed" thereafter...But there are always some chances for begining the new era relations.
regards,
CDTRF